Code of Ethics

Professionals and Institutions that decide to become members of the Simulation Team accept to adopt the following Code of Ethics for Simulationists (SimEthics available in English, French, Italian and Turkish and originally published by Prof.Tuncer I. Oren, Ir.Maurice I. Elzas, Dr.Iva Smit and Prof.Louis G.Birta in 2002.

Simulationist Code of Ethics

Preamble

Simulationists are professionals involved in one or more of the following areas:
• Modeling and simulation activities
• Providing modeling and simulation products
• Providing modeling and simulation services

1. Personal Development and Profession

As a simulationist I will:
• 1.1 Acquire and maintain professional competence and attitude
• 1.2 Treat fairly employees, clients, users, colleagues, and employers
• 1.3 Encourage and support new entrants to the profession
• 1.4 Support fellow practitioners and members of other professions who are engaged in modeling and simulation
• 1.5 Assist colleagues to achieve reliable results
• 1.6 Promote the reliable and credible use of modeling and simulation
• 1.7 Promote the modeling and simulation profession; e.g., advance public knowledge and appreciation of modeling and simulation and clarify and counter false or misleading statements

2. Professional Competence

As a simulationist I will:
• 2.1 Assure product and/or service quality by the use of proper methodologies and technologies
• 2.2 Seek, utilize, and provide critical professional review
• 2.3 Recommend and stipulate proper and achievable goals for any project
• 2.4 Document simulation studies and/or systems comprehensibly and accurately to authorized parties
• 2.5 Provide full disclosure of system design assumptions and known limitations and problems to authorized parties
• 2.6 Be explicit and unequivocal about the conditions of applicability of specific models and associated simulation results
• 2.7 Caution against acceptance of modeling and simulation results when there is insufficient evidence of thorough validation and verification
• 2.8 Assure thorough and unbiased interpretations and evaluations of the results of modeling and simulation studies

3. Trustworthiness

As a simulationist I will:
• 3.1 Be honest about any circumstances that might lead to conflict of interest
• 3.2 Honor contracts, agreements, and assigned responsibilities and accountabilities
• 3.3 Help develop an organizational environment that is supportive of ethical behavior
• 3.4 Support studies which will protect and defend humans (current and future generations) as well as environment

4. Property Rights and Due Credit

As a simulationist I will:
• 4.1 Give full acknowledgement to the contributions of others
• 4.2 Give proper credit for intellectual property
• 4.3 Honor property rights including copyrights and patents
• 4.4 Honor privacy rights of individuals and organizations as well as confidentiality of the relevant data and knowledge

5. Compliance with the Code

As a simulationist I will:
• 5.1 Adhere to this code and encourage other simulationists to adhere to it
• 5.2 Treat violations of this code as inconsistent with being a simulationist
• 5.3 Seek advice from professional colleagues when faced with an ethical dilemma in modeling and simulation activities
• 5.4 Advise any professional society which supports this code of desirable updates